January 5, 2009

Fighting flares outside Gaza City

Militants engage Israeli forces near Gaza City as “friendly fire” kills three soldiers on the third night of the ground offensive.

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment

VIDEO: 2010 Cadillac SRX in detail

Filed under: , ,

Click above to watch video after the jump

The current Cadillac SRX is a competent vehicle, although it hasn’t come close to selling as many units as the Lexus RX350, let alone the Acura MDX. GM is looking to change that with the thoroughly revised 2010 Cadillac SRX. Gone are the station wagon looks and rear wheel drive, and in its place is a new front drive platform and sheetmetal that looks the part of a true crossover contender. General Motors has ditched its larger powertrains for an efficient 3.0L, direct injected V6 and a 300 horsepower, 2.8L turbocharged unit that have the potential to quell fears that the new 2010 model will be lacking in the performance department. We had the chance to speak with Cadillac Marketing Director Steve Shannon to get an in-depth tour of the new SRX, and you can get the inside story in the video after the jump.

Continue reading VIDEO: 2010 Cadillac SRX in detail

VIDEO: 2010 Cadillac SRX in detail originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment

East Africa: Ministers Discuss Fuel Crisis

Ministers in charge of East African Affairs have discussed the ongoing fuel crisis in the region as a way of finding a solution to the problem that has affected the region despite the general decrease of its price on the global market.

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment

Egyptian President Mubarak says he wants an Israeli victory in Gaza

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stunned visiting foreign ministers Monday when he said he wanted Israel to emerge as the winner in the current conflict in Gaza.

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment

Obama’s strategic silence on Gaza

The BBC’s Richard Lister reports on President-elect Barack Obama’s unwillingness to comment on Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment

By The Numbers - 2008: Phew! Glad That’s Over Edition

Filed under:

We didn’t know sales for the U.S. auto industry in 2008 would be this bad when the year began, but it sure ended on a fitting note. Over the past six months or so we’ve seen the U.S. auto sales market nearly collapse and almost take our own domestic auto industry with it.

Nevertheless, there were a couple of standouts. Both MINI and Subaru somehow managed to post sales gains in 2008 compared to the previous year. The success of MINI is likely due to production capacity more than popularity, but we have no explanation for Subaru other than its sales staff is more persuasive than at your average car dealership.

As for the big dogs, despite the whole lot of them being hit equally hard over the past few months, Japanese automakers had a stronger first half of 2008. As such, their year-end sales data looks better than the domestics with Toyota being the worst performing Japanese automaker at -15.4% and Honda fairing the best with a drop of just 7.91%. In comparison, Ford Motor Company (-20.7%) and General Motors (-22.9%) were equally unimpressive while the Chrysler Group hemorrhaged sales and finished down a full 30%.

As for the rest of the auto industry, it’s all their below and it isn’t pretty.

BY THE NUMBERS - 2008
Brand Vol. % Change Total Sales 2008 Total Sales 2007 DSR % Change Daily Avg. 2008 Daily Avg. 2007
Acura
-19.8% 144,504 180,104 -20% 469 587
Audi -6.1% 87,760 93,506 -6.4% 285 305
BMW -15.2% 249,113 293,795 -15.5% 809 957
Buick -26.2% 137,197 185,791 -26.4% 445 605
Cadillac -24.9% 161,159 214,726 -25.2% 523 699
Chevrolet -20.5% 1,801,131 2,265,641 -20.8% 5,848 7,380
Chrysler -38.3% 335,108 543,011 -38.5% 1,088 1,769
Dodge -25.9% 784,113 1,058,402 -26.2% 2,546 3,448
Ford -19.7% 1,687,731 2,101,244 -19.9% 5,480 6,844
GMC -25.5% 376,996 505,746 -25.7% 1,224 1,647
Honda -6.4% 1,284,261 1,371,438 -6.7% 4,170 4,467
HUMMER -50.9% 27,485 55,986 -51% 89 182
Hyundai NA
Infiniti -11% 112,989 127,038 -11.3% 367 414
Jeep -29.7% 333,901 475,237 -30% 1,084 1,548
Kia -10.5% 273,397 305,473 -10.8% 888 995
Lexus -21% 260,087 329,177 -21.2% 844 1,072
Lincoln -18.4% 107,295 131,487 -18.7% 348 428
Mazda -10.9% 263,949 296,110 -11.2% 857 965
Mercedes-Benz -11.2% 225,128 253,433 -11.5% 731 826
Mercury -28.6% 120,248 168,422 -28.8% 390 549
MINI 28.6% 54,077 42,045 28.2% 176 137
Mitsubishi -24.6% 97,257 128,993 -24.8% 316 420
Nissan -10.9% 838,361 941,200 -11.2% 2,722 3,066
Pontiac -25.3% 267,348 358,022 -25.6% 868 1,166
Porsche -25% 26,035 34,693 -25.2% 85 113
Saab -34.7% 21,368 32,711 -34.9% 69 107
Saturn -21.7% 188,004 240,091 -21.9% 610 782
Subaru 0.3% 187,699 187,208 -0.06 609 610
Suzuki NA
Toyota -14.6% 1,957,575 2,291,648 -14.9% 6,356 7,464
Volkswagen -3.2% 223,128 230,572 -3.5% 724 751
Volvo -31.2% 73,102 106,213 -31.4% 237 346
COMPANIES
BMW Group -9.7% 303,190 335,840 -10% 984 1,094
Chrysler LLC -30% 1,453,122 2,076,650 -30.3% 4,717 6,764
FoMoCo -20.7% 1,988,376 2,507,366 -30% 6,456 8,167
General Motors -22.9% 2,980,688 3,866,620 -23.2% 9,678 12,594
Honda America -7.91% 1,428,765 1,551,542 -8.21% 4,369 5,054
Nissan NA -10.9% 951,350 1,068,238 -11.2% 3,081 3,480
Toyota Mo Co -15.4% 2,217,662 2,620,825 -15.7% 7,200 8,537

2008 had 308 selling days versus 307 selling days for 2007

By The Numbers - 2008: Phew! Glad That’s Over Edition originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment

Israeli tank fire kills three Israeli soldiers

Israel's Golani Brigade 13th Battalion suffered heavy casualties on Monday in the army's Cast Lead offensive.

More: continued here
Powered by SmartRSS

Permalink • Print • Comment

Secure US Embassy opened in Iraq

A new embassy in Iraq has been opened by the US.

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment

Bangkok residents flee building fire

A shopping and residential section of Bangkok's Chinatown caught fire on Monday, killing one person and injuring at least 38 others.

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment

Burned Rubber: Kumho delays holiday bonuses indefinitely

Filed under: ,

Rubber factory workers in South Korea haven’t had a very happy holiday season this year, and they can blame it on the negative traits of the trickle-down effect.

Because Hyundai/Kia has been hit as hard as any other automaker in this economic crisis, business has been down for the country’s second-largest tire maker, Kumho, as well. Due to the resulting dearth in liquidity, Kumho Tire Co. has just announced that it is unable to pay its workers their annual bonus. At 2.5 million won ($1,883) per worker and 3000 workers waiting for their cash, that’s a lot of money, and Kumho says they don’t have it… and don’t know when they will.

Looks like it’s tire-swings all around for Junior next Christmas, too…

[Source: TradingMarkets.com]

Burned Rubber: Kumho delays holiday bonuses indefinitely originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment
Made with WordPress and a search engine optimized WordPress theme • Strawberry Cream, Classic skin by Antonella Pavese